A Fëanorian Afternoon
by Terene
Summary: A short and lightly humorous sketch.  An excerpt from a very lengthy and long-in-progress piece that I may or may not eventually complete.


_A/N: Tolkien stated that of the sons of Fëanor, the most likely to have been wed were Maglor, Caranthir, and (obviously) Curufin. I like to consider this to have been true. In my supreme presumption, I have taken the liberty of giving the wives names, two of which are mentioned in this piece._

_Also, I prefer to use the characters' Sindarin names in the narrative but choose to preserve their Quenya names in dialogue, as they themselves would have done, save __those whose names would not logically have Sindarin counterparts, namely the aforementioned wives who presumably did not follow their husbands into exile. My apologies if my name usage conventions confuse anyone.  
_

* * *

One languid summer's afternoon, Maedhros was relaxing with several of his brothers in their favorite sitting-room. Maedhros was sketching, Maglor was playing his harp, Caranthir was writing a letter, and Curufin was reading. A comfortable silence filled the air, broken only by the soft sounds of Maglor's harping and the scratch of two pens against paper. A bird twittered on a branch outside the window.

The door opened, and Meryanis peered in. She smiled wryly when she spotted Maglor and began to make her way slowly toward the side of the room where he was seated. She was over two-thirds of the way into her pregnancy and starting to find movement laborious.

Suddenly the peace was shattered when the door burst open again, admitting two flying red-headed blurs. The twins charged across the room, nearly knocking over Meryanis, who jumped aside in the nick of time, somewhat less than gracefully thanks to her altered figure. Celegorm appeared in the doorway behind them.

"Ambarussa!" Maedhros bellowed, and the twins knew by his tone that this was not a good time to ask which one of them he meant. They stepped cautiously toward him, and Celegorm followed at their heels with a smug look on his face. Amras held a bow with a frayed string in his hand. It looked like Celegorm's. Maedhros wondered absently what methods Celegorm had used to repay the twins for damaging his favorite hunting-weapon. Undoubtedly it had been effective, if Celegorm's expression was anything by which to judge.

Meryanis lowered herself into a cushioned chair next to Maedhros. Maglor sat nearby on the floor with his harp, intent upon the song he was composing. He glanced up at his wife with a smile, kissed the air in her direction, and then dipped his head back down to his harp. Meryanis sighed and took out the infant's dress she was embroidering from the small basket she had brought with her.

"Pityo, Telvo, you nearly ran into our sister-in-law," Maedhros said sternly. "You must apologise to Meryanis."

"Pardon us, Meryanis," they said in unison, smiling disarmingly at her.

"Think naught of it," she said generously.

"You both know better than to run inside," Maedhros scolded his youngest brothers.

"I tried to stop them, Russandol," Celegorm offered.

"I daresay," Maedhros said dryly, but his comment was drowned out by a mutual cry of outrage from the twins.

Amrod pointed accusingly at Celegorm just as Amras protested to Maedhros, "But Turko—"

Maedhros cut them off with a wave of his hand. "I have no desire to hear aught of the tale from any of you, though 'twas doubtless a tragedy of the most lamentable sort. Now _please_ go sit down and do something quiet, children. All _three_ of you."

"Yes, Russandol," the twins said quickly, but Celegorm just scowled. He resented being called a child, for he was well into his adult years. He opened his mouth to speak, but shut it again when Maedhros gave him a threatening look. He turned on his heels and stomped toward the other side of the room where Caranthir and Curufin were occupied with their own tasks. Amrod and Amras followed.

Turning to Meryanis with a martyr's sigh, Maedhros asked, "Are you certain you want to brave this tempest?"

"'Tis the only way I ever get to see _him_," she complained, nodding her head toward Maglor.

"You poor neglected creature," Maedhros said sarcastically, with a meaningful look at the swell of her belly underneath the loose and lightweight fabric of her dress.

"You have a point," she said with a good-natured grin.

"Oh, do you mind if I draw you? I am in need of a new subject."

"Not at all." She cocked her head in an exaggerated pose that made Maedhros laugh. "Do I need to hold still?"

"No, just do not get up until I give you leave."

She nodded her assent, and Maedhros's pen began scratching swiftly across his paper.

Picking up her earlier strain of conversation, Meryanis said, "Really, I often wonder why Káno bothered to build a separate house for us. The only room he is ever in is the bedroom, and that only at night. He is always here with all of you."

Maedhros chuckled. "Perhaps he has grown so used to the clamour that rules in the house of Fëanáro that he cannot think without it."

"Perhaps," Meryanis agreed. "Forgive me if you think me rude, but you and your brothers do not always seem to get along—"

"We never get along," Maedhros corrected cheerily.

"—yet you are always together, even in the same room!"

He shrugged. "We are very close."

Raised voices from across the room drew their attention at that moment. The twins were arguing with Celegorm again, apparently still over the bow, which was now in Celegorm's grasp.

Suddenly a red-faced and exasperated Caranthir looked up from the letter he was writing and shrieked, "Enough!" Maedhros smirked privately at this, thinking that this newly in-love Caranthir was even more ill-tempered than his usually tempermental self, though Maedhros knew better than to say as much aloud. He wondered how sweet Terenalda could stand Caranthir's company for any length of time, but she seemed just as besotted as he was.

Curufin had less tact than Maedhros. He said something under his breath that those on the other side of the room could not hear, but Caranthir obviously heard it. He sprang from his seat and tackled Curufin, shouting insults as he grappled his brother to the floor. They rolled about as both vied to maintain the top position.

Amrod, Amras, and Celegorm had apparently forgotten their quarrel, for they lapsed into loud laughter as the two wrestled on the floor.

"One might also say we like to fight," said Maedhros contemplatively.

"Sometimes I wonder to what sort of a family I have joined myself," Meryanis sighed.

"If I ever discover the answer to that question, you will be the first I inform."

Maedhros and Meryanis turned their heads again at a sound from Maglor, the first word they had heard him speak all afternoon.

"There," he said in a satisfied tone, giving his harp-strings a final flourish. He had amazingly remained oblivious to the entire episode. "What did you think of it?"

His wife and his eldest brother just looked at each other and burst out laughing.


End file.
